The Sixth Three-year Plan on Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Services in Hong Kong ( )

Transcription

1 The Sixth Three-year Plan on Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Services in Hong Kong ( )

2 The Sixth Three-year Plan on Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Services In Hong Kong ( ) **************************************** Contents Page Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 Drug Trend, Anti-drug Services and Expenditure in Hong Kong 4 Chapter 3 Progress since the 5 th Three-year Plan 21 Chapter 4 Discussions and Strategies 37 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Recommendations (Part I): Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Services Attachment: A Tiered, Multi-modality Approach of Treatment and Rehabilitation Services for Drug Abusers in Hong Kong (Second Edition) Recommendations (Part II): Complementarity with Other Prongs Summary of Major Recommendations and Key Initiatives Annexes

3 Annexes Annex I Annex II Membership of the Working Group on the Sixth Three-year Plan on Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Services in Hong Kong ( ) Terms of Reference of the Working Group Annex III Services and Contact Details of Counselling Services Available in the Community Annex IV Services and Contact Details of Substance Abuse Clinics Annex V Services and Contact Details of Methadone Clinics Annex VI Services and Contact Details of Voluntary Residential Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Centres Annex VII Services and Contact Details of Drug Addiction Treatment Centres of Correctional Services Department Annex VIII Services and Contact Details of Other Support Services Annex IX Major features of the new Beat Drugs Fund Special Funding Scheme for Drug Dependent Persons Treatment and Rehabilitation Centres Annex X Recommendations on Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Services Set Out in Report No. 55 of the Director of Audit Annex XI List of Beat Drugs Fund Granted Projects Related to Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Services in Hong Kong ( )

4 Annex XII Comments Submitted by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service Annex XIII Summary of the Main Points Raised by the Action Committee Against Narcotics, its Sub-committee on Treatment and Rehabilitation and Drug Liaison Committee Annex XIV Abbreviations

5 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION (A) Background 1.1 Hong Kong adopts a multi-modality approach in providing drug treatment and rehabilitation services to cater for the different needs of drug abusers from varying backgrounds. With the rapid changes in drug abuse patterns and emergence of new substances, it is necessary to continuously refine and improve the service approach to keep abreast of the evolving needs. Since 1997, the Narcotics Division (ND) has been drawing up three-year plans setting out the policies, priorities and strategies on drug treatment and rehabilitation services. Each three-year plan serves to provide a reference for service providers to review and develop their action plans and programmes against the latest drug scene. 1.2 A total of five three-year plans have been issued (in 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2009 respectively). This is the Sixth Three-year Plan on Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Services in Hong Kong ( Sixth Three-year Plan ) covering the period from 2012 to (B) Objectives 1.3 The objectives of the Sixth Three-year Plan are: (a) to assess the existing drug treatment and rehabilitation programmes in Hong Kong and see whether they can effectively respond to the characteristics and needs of drug abusers today; (b) to identify room for adjustment and enhancement of the existing treatment and rehabilitation services; and (c) to advise on the strategic direction to which drug treatment and rehabilitation services should take between 2012 and (C) Consultation Process 1.4 The formulation of the Plan is a consensus building process among stakeholders. ND has engaged different parties and coordinated 1

6 input. Dr Ben Cheung, Chairman of the Action Committee Against Narcotics Sub-committee on Treatment and Rehabilitation (ACAN T&R Sub-committee), led a Working Group (WG) which comprised representatives from drug treatment and rehabilitation agencies, counselling centres, academic, the medical profession and government departments to advise on the formulation of the Plan. The membership list of the WG and its terms of reference are at Annexes I and II respectively. 1.5 ND solicited views from the social welfare sector through a focus group and a consultation session organised by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS) in June and July 2011 respectively. In August 2011, ND also consulted the medical sector with the help of the Hong Kong Medical Association in August ND also heard views from service agencies, counselling centres, substance abuse clinics and related government departments. Frameworks and drafts of the Plan were reviewed by ACAN, its T&R Sub-committee, and Drug Liaison Committee (DLC). Their views were incorporated into the Plan as far as possible. 1.7 The Sixth Three-year Plan has also taken into account the recommendations on voluntary residential Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Centres (DTRCs) as set out in the Report No. 55 of the Director of Audit issued in late 2010; and also the Report of the Public Accounts Committee published in early (D) Overview 1.8 The Sixth Three-year Plan gives an account of the drug abuse situation in Hong Kong as captured by the Central Registry of Drug Abuse (CRDA), and the different treatment services rendered by the various government and non-governmental agencies. It summarises the major developments since the Fifth Three-year Plan covering The Plan also addresses the major issues of concern that were identified during the consultation with the anti-drug sector and stakeholders, and recommends strategic direction in the period from 2012 to (E) Implementation and Monitoring 1.9 ND will work closely with stakeholders, including concerned 2

7 government bureaux and departments (B/Ds), the Hospital Authority (HA) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), to monitor the implementation of the recommendations and regularly report the progress to ACAN T&R Sub-committee and DLC. 3

8 CHAPTER 2 DRUG TREND, ANTI-DRUG SERVICES AND EXPENDITURE IN HONG KONG (A) Key Statistics from the CRDA 2.1 According to CRDA, the total number of reported drug abusers 1 fluctuated over the years. After reaching the peak of in 2001, the reported number decreased steadily to in Afterwards, it rebounded to in 2008 and then dropped again to in Regarding young drug abusers aged under 21, there has been an alarming rising trend in recent years. The situation was alleviated significantly in 2011 with the reported number decreased to from in 2010 (a decrease of 28.6%). Though heroin is traditionally the most commonly abused drug in Hong Kong, the number of heroin abusers has been declining for years. On the contrary, there was a general rising trend in the abuse of psychotropic substances as a whole in the past decade or so. In 2011, the number of psychotropic substance abusers (PSAs) dropped to from the record high of in 2009, as against heroin abusers. The most common reasons reported 2 for taking drugs are to identify with peers (48.8%), to relieve boredom/depression/anxiety (48.6%) and to avoid discomfort of withdrawal (40.5%). 1 For the purpose of CRDA reporting, a drug abuser is defined to be a person who is known or suspected to have taken any kind of substances in the last four weeks of the time of reporting, irrespective of the number of takings, and the substances harms or threatens to harm the physical or mental health or social well-being of an individual, in doses above or for periods beyond those normally regarded as therapeutic. Use of alcohol and tobacco is, however, not regarded as drug abuse. 2 More than one reason for current drug abuse might be reported for an individual drug abuser. 4

9 Key observations 2.2 Comparing the figures in the period from 2009 to 2011, the following observations were noted. (a) For those aged under 21 the number stood at in 2011, being 28.6% and 40.8% lower than that in 2010 (2 811) and 2009 (3 388) respectively. (b) Female Drug Abusers the number stood at in 2011, being 15.6% and 23.0% lower than that in 2010 (2 526) and 2009 (2 769) respectively. (c) Newly Reported Persons the number was in 2011 being 15.9% and 28.3% lower than that in 2010 (3 806) and 2009 (4 460) respectively. (d) Poly-drug Abusers the number (2 453) in 2011 was lower than those of 2010 (2 818) and 2009 (3 043), while the proportion (21.5%) of poly-drug abusers in 2011 was lower than that of 2010 (22.6%) and 2009 (21.8%). The proportion of youngsters aged under 21 taking multiple drugs was 27.1%, which was higher than that of the overall reported drug abusers in (e) Heroin the number of heroin abusers continued to decline over the three-year period and stood at in 2011, being 4.3% and 14.0% lower than that of 2010 (6 200) and 2009 (6 903) respectively. That said, heroin remained the most prevalent type of drug abused in Hong Kong. (f) Psychotropic Substance Abusers the number stood at in 2011, being 10.7% and 19.5% lower than that of 2010 (7 665) and 2009 (8 505) respectively. The number has since 2007 overtaken the number of heroin abusers. (g) Ketamine it was the most popular type of psychotropic substances abused by the overall reported drug abusers as well as those aged under 21 in the past years. The number of abusers in 2011 stood at 3 600, being 20.9% and 31.8% lower than that in 2010 (4 553) and 2009 (5 280) respectively. (h) Ice it has overtaken ecstasy, being the second most popular type of psychotropic substances abused among young drug abusers 5

10 aged under 21 since The number of abusers in 2011 stood at 528, being 13.9% and 6.2% lower than that in 2010 (613) and 2009 (563) respectively. (i) Cocaine the number of abusers was 858 in 2011, being 10.6% and 64.7% higher than that of 2010 (776) and 2009 (521) respectively. (j) Cannabis the number of abusers was 392 in 2011, being 24.5% and 36.8% lower than that of 2010 (519) and 2009 (620) respectively. (k) Age of First Time Drug Abuse the mean age of first abuse for those aged under 21 has remained at 15 during 2009 to 2011 During this period, more of these youngsters started to first abuse drugs below the age of 15 (from 43% to 45%). (l) Non-Chinese Abusers the number has fluctuated in the region of 600 to 800 in the period of 2009 to As the number of Chinese drug abusers has dropped significantly since 2009, the proportion of non-chinese drug abusers has grown steadily in the same interval. The five graphs below give a comparison of the positions of 2002 to 2011 and the period from 2009 to 2011 in respect of the number of reported drug abusers taking common types of drugs. 6

11 Graph 1 : Reported drug abusers by age group, No. of persons Aged 21 and over Aged under Graph 2 : Reported drug abusers taking psychotropic substances and heroin, No. of persons Heroin Psychotropic substances Note: An abuser may take both heroin and psychotropic substances in a given year. 7

12 Graph 3 : Reported drug abusers taking psychotropic substances and heroin, No. of persons (-10.4%) (-8.5%) All Heroin Psychotropic Substances (-8.3%) (-17.0%) (-10.2%) (-9.9%) (-5.1%) (-10.3%) (-17.3%) (-2.7%) 2006 (-28.6%) (-10.7%) (-4.3%) (-0.04%) (-4.3%) (-29.8%) Aged 21 and over Aged under 21 Notes: 1. Figures in bracket denote the percentage change over the same period of last year. 2. An individual drug abuser may abuse both psychotropic substances and heroin concurrently in a given year. Graph 4 : Common types of drugs abused, N o. of persons N6 o. 903 of persons Heroin Heroin Ketamine Ketamine Taking more than one drug type Taking one drug type only Taking one drug type only Meth- amphetamine Methamphetamine Taking more than one drug type Triazolam/ midazolam/ Triazolam/ zopiclone midazolam/ zopiclone Cocaine Cocaine Cough Cannabis MDMA 113 Nimetazepam medicine Cough Cannabis MDMA Nimetazepam medicine Notes: 1. Figures exclude those with unknown type of drugs abused. 2. More than one type of drugs abused may be reported for each individual drug abuser in a given year. (CRDA reports and statistics are available at this link 8

13 Graph 5 : Reported non-chinese drug abusers, No. of persons No. of persons % % 6.0% 4.4% 4.0% % % Notes: 1. Figures exclude those with unknown ethnic group. 2. % refers to the percentage of all reported drug abusers. (CRDA reports and statistics are available at this link (B) Treatment Modalities in Hong Kong 2.3 Broadly speaking, we adopt a multi-modality approach to cater for the different needs of drug abusers with varying backgrounds and circumstances 3. The services can be grouped into the following five categories - (a) Community-based counselling services subvented by the Social Welfare Department (SWD) including counselling centres for psychotropic substance abusers (CCPSAs) which provide counselling services and other assistance to PSAs and youth at risk, as well as Centres for Drug Counselling (CDCs) which help drug abusers abstain from their drug abusing habits and reintegrate into the community after rehabilitation. CCPSAs and CDCs also provide counselling and supportive services to family members of drug abusers to deal with problems arising from drug abuse (Annex III); 3 The different service modalities may refer differences in points of intervention, target groups (e.g. opiate users or psychotropic substance abusers), treatment approaches (e.g. medical-based or faith-based), aims (e.g. detoxification, maintenance or psychiatric treatment), or any other aspects. 9

14 (b) Substance Abuse Clinics (SACs) run by the HA provide medical treatment to drug abusers with psychiatric problems (Annex IV); (c) methadone treatment programme (MTP) provided by the Department of Health (DH) offers both maintenance and detoxification options for opioid dependent persons of all ages through a network of 20 methadone clinics on an outpatient mode (Annex V); (d) 40 residential drug treatment and rehabilitation centres and halfway houses (DTRCs) run by 17 NGOs. 20 of them are subvented by DH or SWD whereas 20 are non-subvented. All except two are currently providing services to young drug abusers as well as adult abusers (Annex VI); and (e) compulsory drug treatment programme at drug addiction treatment centres (DATCs) operated by the Correctional Services Department (CSD) for persons of 14 years old or above who are found guilty of offences punishable by imprisonment and addicted to drugs (Annex VII). Apart from the services mentioned above, a number of agencies also provide support services in the combat against drug abuse and helping drug abusers to turn a new leaf. Descriptions on their services and contact details can be found at Annex VIII. (C) Service Capacity and Utilisation of the Different Treatment and Rehabilitation Modalities 2.4 The service capacity and utilisation figures of these programmes are shown below. 10

15 Table 1 : Eleven CCPSAs 4 Subvented by SWD All ages Age under 21 All Ages Age under 21 All ages Age under 21 (a) New cases Male 502 (+8.2%) 229 (-9.1%) 555 (+10.6%) 185 (-19.2%) (+82.3%) 319 (+72.4%) Female 366 (+53.8%) 236 (+41.3%) 335 (-8.5%) 173 (-26.7%) 594 (+77.3%) 253 (+46.2%) Total 868 (+23.6%) 465 (+11.0%) 890 (+2.5%) 358 (-23.0%) (+80.4%) 572 (+59.8%) (b) Total no. of cases Male 509 (+9.2%) Female 366 (+53.1%) 231 (-8.3%) 236 (+41.3%) 555 (+9.0%) 335 (-8.5%) 185 (-19.9%) 173 (-26.7%) (+83.6%) 600 (+79.1%) 321 (+73.5%) 256 (+48.0%) Total 875 (+24.1%) 467 (+11.5%) 890 (+1.7%) 358 (-23.3%) (+81.9%) 577 (+61.2%) Note: ( ) denotes % change over the same period of last year 4 Four new CCPSAs in Central and Western/Southern/Islands, Shamshuipo, Wong Tai Sin/Sai Kung and Tsuen Wan/Kwai Tsing districts commenced their operation in October

16 Table 2 : Two CDCs Subvented by SWD All ages Age under 21 All Ages Age under 21 All ages Age under 21 (a) New cases Male (-21.1%) 39 (-15.2%) 203 (-4.7%) 35 (-10.3%) Female (-37.5%) 8 (-33.3%) 61 (+1.7%) 11 (+37.5%) Total (-25.4%) 47 (-19.0%) 264 (-3.3%) 46 (-2.1%) (b) Total no. of cases Male (-19.9%) Female (-33.0%) 39 (-17.0%) 8 (-33.3%) 212 (-4.5%) 69 (+6.2%) 38 (-2.6%) 13 (+62.5%) Total (-23.3%) 47 (-20.3%) 281 (-2.1%) 51 (+8.5%) Notes: ( ) denotes % change over the same period of last year Figures were available since

17 Table 3: SACs under HA New Cases/ First Attendances Follow-up Attendances Total Attendances Year Number % change Number % change Number % change (126) (83) (108) (185) (161) (95) -17.9% (-28.0%) -22.1% (-34.1%) -2.5% (+30.1%) +45.8% (+71.3%) +18.7% (-13.0%) -7.0% (-41.0%) % % % % % % % % % % % % Note: ( ) denotes figures for those aged under 21 There are currently seven SACs operating in Hong Kong, namely, (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) Kwai Chung Hospital (KCH) Substance Abuse Assessment Clinic; Kowloon Hospital (KH) Substance Abuse Clinic; Substance Misuse Clinic at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital; Prince of Wales Hospital / North District Hospital / Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital Substance Abuse Clinic; Tuen Mun Substance Abuse Clinic at Castle Peak Hospital (CPH); Substance Abuse Clinic at Department of Psychiatry of Queen Mary Hospital (QMH) ; and Kowloon East Substance Abuse Clinic. As of December 2011, a total of 46 bedspaces were offered in the Tuen Mun Substance Abuse Clinic at CPH, KCH Substance Abuse Assessment Clinic and KH Substance Abuse Clinic whereas there was no fixed bedspace for the rest of the SACs. 13

18 Table 4 : MTP under DH All ages Age under 21 All ages Age under 21 All ages Age under 21 (a) New / Re-admitted cases Male (-1.5%) Female 911 (-1.3%) 46 (-9.8%) 6 ( %) (-6.5%) 826 (-9.3%) 56 (+21.7%) 6 (0%) (-0.9%) 801 (-2.9%) 47 (-16.1%) 3 (-50.0%) Total (-1.4%) 52 (-3.7%) (-6.9%) 62 (+19.2%) (-1.2%) 50 (-19.4%) (b) Attendance (+1.9%) (-0.8%) (-2.7%) (c) Attendance rate Effective registration (+1.1%) (-0.6%) (-2.0%) Daily attendance (+2.2%) (-0.8%) (-2.7%) Average daily attendance rate 76.2% 76.1% 75.6% Note: ( ) denotes % change over of the same period of last year 14

19 Table 5 : Voluntary Residential Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Agencies All ages Age under 21 All ages Age under 21 All ages Age under 21 (a) New admission Male (-2.2%) 269 (+3.1%) (-11.3%) 214 (-20.4%) (+6.6%) 205 (-4.2%) Female 266 (+13.2%) 114 (+29.5%) 310 (+16.5%) 112 (-1.8%) 324 (+4.5%) 97 (-13.4%) Total (+0.2%) 383 (+9.7%) (-6.4%) 326 (-14.9%) (+6.1%) 302 (-7.4%) (b) Total admission Male (+1.6%) 281 (-1.4%) (-9.0%) 241 (-14.2%) (+12.2%) 288 (+19.5%) Female 321 (+13.0%) 115 (+21.1%) 356 (+10.9%) 114 (-0.9%) 407 (+14.3%) 118 (+3.5%) Total (+2.6%) 396 (+4.2%) (-7.1%) 355 (-10.4%) (+12.5%) 406 (+14.4%) (c) Number of persons under treatment and aftercare (as at year/ quarter end) (+0.04%) 636 (+16.9%) (+2.1%) 663 (+4.2%) (+5.8%) 632 (-4.7%) Note: ( ) denotes % change over the same period of last year 5 As at December 2011, there are 17 NGOs operating 40 residential DTRCs with licensed capacity. Eight of these agencies are subvented by the government and operate 20 centres providing a total of 817 subvented places. 15

20 Table 6 : DATC Programme of CSD All ages Age* under 21 All ages Age* under 21 All ages Age* under 21 (a) New admission Male 689 (+39.2%) 215 (+70.6%) 675 (-2.0%) 205 (-4.7%) 560 (-17.0%) 180 (-12.2%) Female 176 (+41.9%) 78 (+44.4%) 168 (-4.5%) 52 (-33.3%) 144 (-14.3%) 36 (-30.8%) Total 865 (+39.7%) 293 (+62.8%) 843 (-2.5%) 257 (-12.3%) 704 (-16.5%) 216 (-16.0%) (b) Readmission Male 563 (-3.8%) 33 (+43.5%) 407 (-27.7%) 39 (+18.2%) 391 (-3.9%) 49 (+25.6%) Female 144 (+28.6%) 3 (0%) 109 (-24.3%) 5 (+66.7%) 116 (+6.4%) 12 (+140.0%) Total 707 (+1.4%) 36 (+38.5%) 516 (-27.0%) 44 (+22.2%) 507 (-1.7%) 61 (+38.6%) (c) Total admission [i.e. (a)+(b)] Male (+15.9%) Female 320 (+35.6%) 248 (+66.4%) 81 (+42.1%) (-13.6%) 277 (-13.4%) 244 (-1.6%) 57 (-29.6%) 951 (-12.1%) 260 (-6.1%) 229 (-6.1%) 48 (-15.8%) Total (+19.5%) 329 (+59.7%) (-13.5%) 301 (-8.5%) (-10.9%) 277 (-8.0%) (d) Discharge # Male (+12.3%) 167 (+60.6%) (-5.5%) 229 (+37.1%) 892 (-20.4%) 217 (-5.2%) Female 276 (+17.9%) 64 (+52.4%) 276 (0%) 63 (-1.6%) 253 (-8.3%) 42 (-33.3%) Total (+13.3%) 231 (+58.2%) (-4.4%) 292 (+26.4%) (-18.0%) 259 (-11.3%) (e) Number under treatment (as at year/ quarter end) Male 537 (+8.9%) Female 154 (+25.2%) Total 691 (+12.2%) 117 (+67.1%) 41 (+51.9%) 158 (+62.9%) 578 (+7.6%) 171 (+11.0%) 749 (+8.4%) 115 (-1.7%) 35 (-14.6%) 150 (-5.1%) 596 (+3.1%) 182 (+6.4%) 778 (+3.9%) 119 (+3.5%) 34 (-2.9%) 153 (+2.0%) (f) Number under supervision (as at year/ quarter end) Male (+14.3%) Female 259 (+12.1%) 142 (+79.7%) 62 (+55.0%) 942 (-9.9%) 259 (0%) 201 (+41.5%) 60 (-3.2%) 736 (-21.9%) 246 (-5.0%) 180 (-10.4%) 40 (-33.3%) Total (+13.9%) 204 (+71.4%) (-7.9%) 261 (+27.9%) 982 (-18.2%) 220 (-15.7%) Notes: ( ) denotes % change over the same period of last year * Refer to Young Inmate Programme for (d) and (f) # excluding those transferred to other correctional programme 16

21 As at end of 2011, CSD runs three DATCs, two for male and one for female, with certified accommodation of From the utilisation figures, we observe the following trends: (a) CCPSAs The number of total cases for all ages increased slightly in 2010, whereas the number for those aged under 21 was about 20% lower. In 2011, all the number of total cases increased: 61.2% for those aged under 21 and 81.9% for all ages. (b) CDCs All the number of cases decreased in In 2011, the number of new cases for male of all ages and aged under 21 were 4.7% and 10.3% lower than that of 2010 respectively. (c) SACs Compared with 2008, the total number of new admission cases and follow-up cases in 2010 increased by 73% and 93% respectively. In 2011, new admission cases was 7.0% lower but follow-up cases was 4.4% higher than that of (d) MTP There was a general decrease in the reported number of heroin abusers and the MTP attendance in the past decade, although there was a trend of slowing down in more recent years. In 2011, the number of MTP attendance was 2.7% lower than that of As MTP services are targeted for heroin abusers, who are mostly aged 21 and over, the number of admission for those aged under 21 remained at about 1% of the total number of admission in the past three years. (e) Voluntary Residential Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Agencies The numbers of both new admission and total admission of drug abusers aged under 21 have changed more rapidly than that of the overall figures. On new admission, we have seen an annual increase of 9.7% in the number of young drug abusers in 2009 and an annual decrease of 14.9% in 2010, whereas the overall number only increased by 0.2% in 2009 and decreased by 6.4% in We have seen a similar trend in the total admission, with an annual increase in young drug abusers of 4.2% in 2009 and a decrease by 10.4% in In contrast, the overall number only increased by 2.6% in 2009 and decreased by 7.1% in In 2011, total new admission of drug abusers was 6.1% higher than that in 2010, whereas new admission of drug abusers aged under 21 decreased by 7.4% in the sameperiod. 17

22 (f) DATCs The total admission and new admission of DATC inmates increased in 2009 but decreased in The number of young inmates aged under 21 showed annual increase of 59.7% in 2009, followed by a decrease of 8.5% in Similarly, the new admission of DATC inmates aged under 21 also showed annual increase of 62.8% in 2009, followed by a decrease of 12.3% in In 2011, total admission and new admission of DATC inmates aged under 21 was 8.0% and 16.0% lower than that of 2010 respectively. (D) Government Expenditure on Anti-drug/ Treatment and Rehabilitation Activities (a) Government budget 2.6 In order to combat the drug problem, a substantial amount of public funding has been allocated to support anti-drug activities. The following table shows the relevant figures in the recent three years. Total expenditure for anti-drug activities in the Government s Estimates of Expenditure Amount spent on drug treatment and rehabilitation (% of total expenditure above) 2008/09 financial year 2009/10 financial year 2010/11 financial year $ M $ M $ M $ M (44.86%) $ M (44.00%) $ M (49.05%) 2.7 The total expenditure spent on anti-drug activities has increased in recent years to tackle the problem. The average annual budget in this area for the past three years exceeded $740M and around 45% of this amount was dedicated to drug treatment and rehabilitation purposes. This proportion is higher than that of the United States 6, which spent around 25% of total drug budget on drug treatment healthcare. 2.8 In , $89.64M of the resources allocated for anti-drug activities in the Government Estimates of Expenditure is attributed to the implementation of a package of additional measures devised by the Task Force on Youth Drug Abuse which was dedicated or related to treatment 6 See National Drug Control Strategy FY 2011 Budget Summary published by Office of National Drug Control Policy, Whitehouse, United States ( 18

23 and rehabilitation purposes. These include $7.90M for further enhancement of day and overnight outreaching services; $3.66M for capacity improvement of DH subvented DTRCs; $4.74M for providing On-site Medical Support Service (OSMSS) at CCPSAs; $19.80M for the setting up of four new CCPSAs; $4.74M for the implementation of a two-year pilot project on enhance probation service out of which $2.95M for strengthening of the urine testing service; $6.30M for procurement of hair drug testing equipment to support the hair drug testing pilot scheme; $22.50M for reinforcing of services at SACs; and $20M for the implementation and a comprehensive assessment of Trial Scheme on School Drug Testing in Tai Po District. (b) Charitable and trust funds for anti-drug cause 2.9 Beat Drugs Fund (BDF) was established in 1996 to provide funding support to worthwhile community-driven anti-drug projects. The scopes of the projects include preventive education and publicity, treatment and rehabilitation and research. Since its establishment, BDF has supported 602 projects involving a total of $376.8M. Among these, 96 projects involving $71.5M are treatment and rehabilitation programmes. Another 82 projects amounting to $77.7M are mixed-type projects with treatment and rehabilitation elements Furthermore, Special Funding Scheme (SFS) was also set up under BDF in 2002 to provide financial assistance to existing DTRCs for meeting the licensing requirements stipulated in the Drug Dependent Persons Treatment and Rehabilitation Centres (Licensing) Ordinance, Cap With capital injection of $3 billion made in 2010, the SFS was expanded in May The key features of the new SFS are listed in Annex IX Besides, there are a number of charitable and trust funds in Hong Kong providing relief and assistance to members of the general public or of specified groups. Some of these funding bodies welcome applications for sponsorship to support anti-drug activities and programmes. Typical ones are the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, the Lotteries Fund (LF), Sir Robert Ho Tung Charitable Fund (SRHTCF), the Board of Management of Chinese Permanent Cemeteries Annual Charity Donation (BMCPCACD), and the Chief Executive s Community Project List (CECPL). From 2009 to 2011, ND assisted in processing quite a number of applications for funding from agencies to organise anti-drug functions. 13 applications were approved which attracted a total funding of $7.29M in support of drug treatment and 19

24 rehabilitation activities. It does not only widen the financial resources, but also heighten the sense of community participation and awareness of the drug abuse issue. 20

25 CHAPTER 3 PROGRESS SINCE THE FIFTH THREE-YEAR PLAN (I) Major Developments (a) CE s Anti-drug Campaign 3.1 In July 2009, the Chief Executive (CE) announced the stepping up of the anti-drug campaign along five directions, namely community mobilisation, community support, drug testing, rehabilitation and law enforcement. Under CE s anti-drug campaign, a number of new initiatives, such as a trial scheme of school drug testing in Tai Po and introduction of hair drug testing technology, have been launched. Existing anti-drug measures and services have also been significantly enhanced by new resources. The Government injected $3 billion capital to the BDF providing new impetus to community projects and capital works for residential DTRCs to fulfil licensing requirements. More importantly, CE s anti-drug campaign has significantly enhanced the awareness of the community. Various sectors in the community were engaged to fight against drug abuse together. (b) Report No. 55 of the Director of Audit 3.2 The Audit Commission and subsequently the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) examined the adequacy and efficiency of the residential DTRCs services for drug abusers and published their reports in October 2010 and February 2011 respectively. The recommendations provided good food for thought and a steer of direction for future improvement of voluntary residential services in Hong Kong, which are summarised in Annex X. The Administration is committed to implementing the recommendations as appropriate. (II) Implementation of the Fifth Three-year Plan 3.3 With the rollout of the Fifth Three-year Plan, considerable progress has been made in the drug treatment and rehabilitation sector. Most of the major recommendations and key initiatives in the last Three-year Plan are completed or on-going whilst a small number of recommendations are still in the developmental stage. Due to the space 21